Luxembourg Authorities participated in Cyber Europe Civil Aviation Exercises

The "Cyber ​​Europe 2018" exercise, which took place from 6-7 June 2018, was aimed this year at the civil aviation sector.

Organised by the European Cyber ​​Security Agency (ENISA), the exercise is part of the Cyber ​​Europe exercise series, which is held every two years and consists of simulating large-scale cybersecurity incidents that may intensify the cyber crisis throughout the European Union. This year's exercise simulated a major cyber attack on the European civil aviation sector.

More than 1,000 people representing some 300 entities from 31 countries participated in the exercise. At the national level, the exercise brought together, under the coordination of the Office of the High Commissioner for National Protection, the following actors: the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI); the Computer Emergency Response Team (GovCERT); LuxAirport; the Computer Incident Response Center (CIRCL); Luxair Group; the Air Navigation Administration. The Directorate of Civil Aviation, the Customs and Excise Administration, Security made in Luxembourg (SMILE GIE) and the Central Police Unit at the airport acted as observers.

All of the Luxembourg players involved were able to test their own internal procedures and those involving their European collaboration throughout the two days of the exercise. Examples of simulated incidents included automatic boarding systems, downloadable mobile applications, operation of monitoring devices, provision of electrical power information systems, baggage registration and retrieval systems as well as the operation of information boards on departures and arrivals.

During a debriefing meeting, the actors welcomed the real framework in which the exercise took place. The exercise provided the actors involved with the opportunity to test their internal crisis management procedures as well as the coordination between the airport entities and the state entities involved in the management of a cybernetic crisis. The debriefing meeting also provided valuable lessons for the procedures in place.